Michigan Patients & Advocates Hold Rep. Bill Huizenga and Republican Lawmakers Accountable for Ongoing Attacks on Abortion Care
KALAMAZOO, MI –– Today, patient storytellers and local partners joined Free & Just, to highlight how Trump and Republican elected officials are working to ban abortion across the country––even in states where it is legally protected. Together, they set the record straight about what’s at stake for Michiganders’ health and freedom right now.
New data from Reproductive Freedom for All and Impact Research finds that Americans across the political spectrum are nearly as opposed to a national abortion ban as they are to middle class tax increases and sweeping cuts to Medicaid. Still, Trump and Republican lawmakers continue to launch deadly new attacks on access to reproductive health care.
The event followed Free & Just’s Abortion Stories on the Hill, which brought more than 150 patient storytellers, health care providers, and abortion rights advocates, including folks from Michigan, to Washington, DC to share how attacks on abortion and reproductive freedom continue to harm women, families, and communities.
Michiganders continued the conversation at home, and demanded that Republicans in Congress, including Rep. Bill Huizenga (MI-04), stop raising costs, violating our privacy, and making life harder for everyday Americans.
“In 1984, I found out I was pregnant at 17 years old. I didn’t tell my parents that I was pregnant. I was a teenager, scared and just trying to figure out what to do. Thankfully, my cousin lent me the money to get an abortion at 12 weeks. As I think back now, I feel empowered in knowing that I did what was best for me and my life,” said patient storyteller Deborah Harsha. “In 2022, Michiganders voted to put reproductive freedom into our state Constitution. We protected the right to make decisions about pregnancy and abortion without government interference. And our state legislature followed through by repealing Michigan’s old 1931 abortion ban — a law that criminalized abortion and doctors who provided care. Michigan chose freedom, but Republicans in Congress, including Bill Huizenga, continue pushing the opposite agenda. It’s time for our elected officials to stop pushing for a national abortion ban and to decide whether they are going to respect the people of Michigan — or continue fighting to take our freedoms away. ”
“On June 25, 2024, just 18 weeks into my pregnancy, I needed emergency abortion care immediately to save my life. I was turned away at the local Catholic hospital and I was forced to wait 24-hours because of Michigan's mandatory waiting period. Let me be clear: when you're a pregnant woman on a hospital bed suffering excruciating pain and going through the most traumatic experience of your life, 24 hours feels like an eternity,” said patient storyteller Darcy Houchin. “I want Representative Huizenga to understand what his support an anti-abortion agenda means for people like me. It means that history will repeat itself, more women will suffer, and that someone experiencing the same kind of pregnancy emergency I experienced could face even more barriers to getting the care they need. It means that decisions that should belong between patients and their doctors could instead be dictated by anti-abortion politicians who are more concerned with pushing their own agenda.”
“I'm standing here today alongside my children and my grandchildren because when I needed it, I was able to pay for and access an elective abortion early in a pregnancy. Everyone with the capacity to become pregnant should have that right,” said patient storyteller Kim JorgensonGane. “I just turned sixty in July and every decade I'm alive adds another layer to my story. Every day I watch the news and I ask myself, ‘at what point is my mom card full enough? When will I be deemed qualified enough to make decisions for myself and my family? When will my country recognize that the choice I made to end a pregnancy when I was young made me a better mother four times over?’ The truth is, they know all of this and they don't care. They're only interested in controlling women and punishing us for existing.”
You can watch the event here. If you are interested in speaking with any of the participants in the event, or learning more about Free & Just, please contact kelly@freeandjust.us.
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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.